Avoid the Nargles at All Costs
by KingdomFlameVIII
Summary: While Harry Potter was out saving the Wizarding world, what were Axel and Roxas doing? Full summary inside. AkuRoku. M for language and adult situations.
1. Year One

**Hey, guys! I know, I'm chucking out a story AGAIN. That's THREE times in the last, like three days! My creative juices are just going and going. I know what you guys are thinking: "goddammit, Emily, why can't you FINISH a project for once!' I know, I know… **_**Senioritis **_**is way overdue. But I can't help it! Once I wanna do something, I wanna DO SOMETHING. Which is rather obvious, given this RIDICULOUSLY CRACK CROSSOVER FIC I'm giving you.**

**Basically, this is a oneshot/drabble. But the story is happening over the course of seven years. Seven years, seven chapters. Each chapter is just basically highlighting the important bits of their relationship. This is an AkuRoku story. Although it features other characters from both worlds, they aren't REALLY involved in the plot. Sooo, yeah, that's it. Hope you guys enjoii!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts OR Harry Potter… but what I wouldn't give…**

YEAR ONE

From the first moment he entered Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, Roxas Strife knew that he could not _stand _Axel Flynn.

But how could you hate someone without first knowing them?

Oh, that didn't matter to Roxas. He could've given you a dozen reasons right off the bat. Axel Flynn was arrogant, rude, cocky, _way too tall_…hey, nobody said they were legitimate reasons.

Roxas and Axel's first meeting took place on the Hogwarts Express; the first day of their _very_ first year. Roxas' parents (both muggles) had driven him to King's Cross Station extra early, to be sure he didn't miss the train. He'd stared up at the scarlet vehicle in awe, eager to get inside as quickly as possible, so that he could go to a special school for people who were _magical. _

Given that, he was among the first to book a compartment. After setting all his things down, he went outside to say goodbye to his mum. When he returned, there were two other boys in his compartment. One was slightly chubby, with a round face and a nervous demeanor. He sat as far away as he could from the other boy, holding his quivering toad and looking like he was going to regret coming in here. The other boy was his polar opposite. He was thin, lanky, had a much narrower face, and carried an extremely confident aura. Much unlike the stiffened, nervous one, he was sprawled lazily across Roxas' seat, and was _levitating his things in midair._

Roxas didn't really mind that there was another kid in his seat. Those things happened, right? He didn't mind that nobody had asked his permission to join the compartment. What he did mind was that the boy was _still _playing with his stuff, and he made no sign of stopping any time soon.

But Roxas' mother had brought him up to be polite, so he said, albeit rather stiffly, "Excuse me, could you please stop enchanting my trunk?" he threw in a nervous giggle. "The last thing I want is for it to fly away."

The boy with wild red hair didn't take his eyes away from the floating trunk as he replied in a heavy Scottish accent, "What? Don't you trust me?"

"Frankly I don't," said Roxas, folding his arms, "I met you all of thirty seconds ago, under the circumstance of you playing with my stuff without permission. Won't you at least look at me while I'm talking to you!"

Later, he would be told that once eye contact was broken, so was a spell. But prior to that, as far as he was concerned, the boy snapped his green eyes over to Roxas and unceremoniously dumped his trunk onto the floor. That was strike one. Then he curled his lips up and smirk at Roxas. Strike Two. "Frankly my dear, who says frankly anymore? You have _got _to relax. Look, I'll even scoot over so you don't have to sit next to tubby over there."

Strike three. Out.

"I'll pass," said Roxas coolly, sitting down next to the smaller, nervous kid. "Hi, I'm Roxas Strife."

"N-Neville Longbottom," he stuttered. Roxas reached his hand out in a friendly manner to shake hands with this Neville kid.

"And I'm Axel," said the redhead, even though he was obviously _not _invited to their conversation, "Got it memorized?"

"I'm trying my very hardest to forget," Roxas assured him.

The compartment door slid open and a short little girl with a bird's nest ponytail strode right in, dragging not one, but two trunks.

"Is it okay if I sit in here?" she asked. Before waiting for a confirmation she briskly heaved her compartments onto a higher rack and sat down next to Axel. "Oh, I do hope I haven't missed introductions. I'm Hermione Granger. I'm _so _excited to be going to Hogwarts. I'm muggle born, you know, so I thought I'd catch on a little bit extra early with my magic. Did you three know that they used to use portkeys to get to school instead of a train? I read it in Hogwarts, A History."

Axel sniggered. "Don't be so shy, now, Granger," he said sarcastically. Hermione turned scarlet and scooted away from him slightly.

"I'm muggle born too," Roxas piped up, earning a rather disapproving gaze from Axel. "I'm actually a little nervous. What about you two?" he said cordially to Neville, and Axel.

"Not a drop of muggle blood in my veins," said Axel smoothly.

Neville said quietly, "My mum and dad are a witch and a wizard."

An awkward silence settled over them and the train began to move. For the first several minutes of their trip, Hermione altered the color of her fingernail polish as if unable to decide; Neville sat quietly and stared out the window.

Axel and Roxas glared at one another.

Not directly, of course, that would have been extremely awkward. But Roxas knew that the redhead was giving him just as many dirty looks as he was giving the redhead. Occasionally their eyes would fall upon one another, and they'd quickly go back to ignoring each other.

It wasn't until a little old witch with a snack trolley came wobbling up that anybody spoke.

"Would you like anything, dearies?" she asked nicely.

Hermione shook her head, and Roxas followed suit. He hadn't gone to the trouble of returning to Gringotts to get his money switched out to wizard money. At the moment he was wishing he was; there was a 5 pound note in his pocket and his stomach was grumbling.

"Licorice wand," said Axel, pulling out a small jingling satchel, presumably full of wizard's gold. So he was rich too. What a snob.

"Two chocolate frogs, and a pumpkin pasty, please," said Neville. It was the most Roxas had heard from him since meeting him.

Axel was grinning that stupid grin again.

"That all for you, _Longbottom_?" said Axel, smirking.

"No," Neville replied defensively. "The chocolate frogs are for Roxas."

"Huh?" said Roxas, "Y-you don't have to—"

Neville pushed the two little packages into his hands. "Just give me the cards, okay? Don't worry about it."

"Speaking of frogs," said Axel, pretending to check out his fingernails, "Where'd yours go off to?"

With each minute they had to spend searching the train for Neville's toad, Roxas' dislike for Axel grew more and more.

* * *

"Flynn, Axel," the woman called Professor McGonagall read the name off of her list of parchment paper. Roxas hadn't even been aware that Axel was a first year, like him. Someone who was so self-assured (and tall) seemed more befitting to a more experienced student.

As the lanky boy with green eyes stepped fluidly up to the front of the room to be sorted, a pale, pointed faced boy next to him spat, "Looks like one of those _Weasleys_."

Roxas didn't know what a Weasley was, but he couldn't very well ask, as the boy had not been talking to him.

"_SLYTHERIN!"_

The table to the far right cheered, and the boy whose name Roxas did not so said, "Oh. I guess not."

Axel strode with a confident grin over to the cheering table at the far left of the room. Roxas was really beginning to despise that grin.

He cheered when both Hermione and Neville were sorted into Gryffindor. He'd been told good things about Gryffindor, and bad things about Slytherin. He'd promised himself that he wouldn't come to the school biased, but he was hoping to be placed anywhere but with Axel now.

After the pointed blonde boy ("Malfoy, Draco," Professor McGonagall had introduced him as) Roxas was starting to get pretty nervous. Soon he'd have to go up there, in front of the entire school, to be sorted. He'd never tried magic before, what if the hat told him to go home? He might die of shame.

The hall went quiet as a skinny, black haired boy whose name Roxas had missed stepped nervously onto the platform. He took _forever._

After what seemed like an eternity, the sorting hat bellowed, "GRYFFINDOR!" for the entire hallway to hear.

There were very few people left to be sorted at all. Just him and five other people. Ten seconds later, Roxas was seated on the stool, and the sorting hat was placed upon his head.

"Hmm, a brilliant mind," the hat whispered into his ear, "Ravenclaw? No, too lazy." Roxas turned red in hopes that nobody but him had heard that, "There's much potential, perhaps Slytherin? Perhaps not. Too selfless for your own good. I'm thinking GRYFFINDOR!"

Roxas sighed in relief as the rest of Gryffindor house cheered for him. Gryffindor. That sounded pretty good. He shook hands with about a dozen people, upperclassmen and first years alike before he was properly seated.

He found out what a Weasley was a minute later, when a redhead boy (not quite so red as Axel's, though, this color was more orangey and natural) approached the hat and was instantly sorted into Gryffindor. He was one of the last boys to be sorted, and he and his numerous brothers did not stop chatting through the rest of the ceremony.

Finally, "Zabini, Blaise" was sorted into Slytherin, and it was over, and Roxas was famished. The headmaster, stood up, and crossed to the front of the staff's table.

"Welcome," he said, his arms spread wide, "Welcome, to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin the banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: nitwit, blubber, oddment, tweak! Thank you."

Roxas laughed and clapped along with everyone else. He'd heard amazing things about Albus Dumbledore, plus he was rather giddy after the sorting ceremony, he was still shaking. But his spirits were soon heightened tenfold as meals of all kind appeared on the golden plates. He cheerfully stuffed his face with all of his favorite dishes as he got to know the people he was seated near. Neville and Hermione were both seated farther down the table, near the Weasleys, so Roxas made conversation with people closer to them.

By the end of the feast, he had become acquainted with a brunette his size named Sora, a second-year named Hayner Finnigan, a boy who somewhat resembled Neville named Pence, first year; a tall boy with silver hair named Riku, who apparently was already friends with Sora, a blonde-haired girl named Naminé, who had a twin brother named Tidus.

As Dumbledore came back up to make his real speech (everyone was keener to listen with full bellies) Roxas stole a glance over to the Slytherin table. Axel was sitting there, ignoring Dumbledore completely and chatting idly with a mulleted first year whose name Roxas thought was Demyx Abbott, and a black haired girl with a rather pinched face.

Axel met eyes with him, flashed him a rather rude finger gesture, accompanied by a wink, and turned back to talk to his friends again. Anger boiled up at Axel's blatant disrespect toward the headmaster before he realized that he was ignoring Dumbledore too. So he turned his undivided attention back to the elderly wizard and he tried to put aside all thoughts of Axel Flynn.

**You know the drill! Review for me, please! **


	2. Year Two

**I. Am on a ROLL today. **

**Well, actually it feels like I'm literally rolling. Down a hill, or something. As soon as this is up, I'm passing out from utter dizziness.**

**Disclaimer: Neither Kingdom Hearts nor Harry Potter belongs to me; just this silly plot.**

YEAR TWO

Things between Axel and Roxas did not get better throughout their first year at Hogwarts, in fact if anything, a very strong rivalry had been established between them. They'd both gotten detention multiple times for dueling in the hallways, throwing jinxes at one another in class, and what became collectively known among teachers and students as "banshee bantering" in the great hall during breakfast.

All in all, though, he really loved Hogwarts. He'd established very good friendships with his roommates (Sora, Riku, Pence, and Tidus) and many of the other Gryffindors. He learned countless things about the castle and its history, and, once practiced, he found he was very good at magic, Charms especially. By the end of his first year, he had beyond perfected his shielding charms (Axel had a very offensive fighting style), and many others.

By the time second year came around, Roxas could not have been more excited about returning to Hogwarts.

Halfway into the year, however, he was beginning to question that decision. Strange things were happening, very strange things. Aside from the usual oddities that occurred daily in the castle, magic had taken the turn to something sinister. All of this about the chamber of secrets; Roxas feared for himself. He had never particularly liked that Granger girl, but when he heard of her petrification, he began to get severely freaked out. What if they came for him next? He had no magical heritage to back him up whatsoever.

He didn't want to believe that Harry Potter was the "heir of Slytherin" like everyone around him seemed to think. For one, Harry _was _in Gryffindor, and though Roxas had never really intermingled with him and his crowd, they were generally on good terms. They'd swapped passively taken notes in Transfiguration and sat at the same lab table in potions during their first year. And, honestly, Harry didn't come across as a dark wizard at all to Roxas, unless he was around Draco Malfoy. The two of them shared a similar relationship to his and Axel's.

But as of late, he'd been avoiding the scarred teen like the plague. He didn't want to be next.

* * *

"Hey, Axel, did you hear? Another Gryffindor got attacked. I heard they're talking about closing the school."

Axel looked up to meet eyes with Saïx, a fifth year prefect who, like Harry Potter, had a scar on his face.

They were hanging about in the Slytherin common room, where he and Demyx had taken to sitting by the fireplace; Axel watching the flames, Demyx watching aquatic creatures of all types swimming in the murky waters just outside their windows. It took Axel a moment to even look up. Honestly, this wasn't even news anymore. Students and ghosts alike were being picked off one by one. But the word Gryffindor did pique a particular interest in Axel.

"D'you know who it was?"

Saïx smiled sadistically. "Roxas Strife."

* * *

Nobody in Slytherin knew that Axel Flynn visited Roxas Strife in the hospital wing. Nobody in Gryffindor knew, either. In fact, Axel himself often questioned his motives for spending his evenings sitting next to Roxas, who was frozen stone cold, his eyes wide open in fear. They weren't friends. They were far from friends. Axel didn't even like him.

Well, that wasn't completely true.

Even though Roxas had his own special way of getting on Axel's nerves that nobody else could quite replicate; even though he was a dense, mudblood little Gryffindor, Axel secretly had a deep admiration for him. He was brave, and he was talented, and he wasn't afraid of anything. Except being petrified, apparently. He fancied the expression Roxas would probably make if he ever found out that Axel had seen him, on multiple occasions, with the look of vulnerability and distress he currently wore. It was the only time Axel had ever seen it in any kind of fear.

It scared him, honestly. It made him want Roxas to wake up. He knew the blonde was comatose, but it made him very uncomfortable to see him in such fear all the time. Even with that aside, he missed the daily action he got from being around Roxas. That probably made him the world's biggest asshole, since he was sure that Roxas didn't have nearly as much fun fighting with him as he did fighting Roxas. But he couldn't help himself. It was just so fun making him tick.

"What are _you _doing here?"

Axel snapped his head around to see Sora heading over to where Roxas lay.

He stood up immediately. "I—uh…"

Sora smirked. "Well, well, well, if it isn't our little Slytherin friend. Not feeling guilty for putting him here, are you?"

Axel scoffed. "Right. I'm twelve years old and I can hardly turn a toothpick into a pin, but somehow I know how to curse a whole number of people _so _badly that even old Dumbledore can't put them right? Maybe they shoulda put you in Hufflepuff, spikey."

"I was kidding," Sora added quietly. "So what _are _you doing here, then?"

Silly Sora, didn't he know that Axel couldn't even answer that for himself?

"I'm not here," he hissed, drawing his wand and pointing it menacingly towards Sora, "And if anybody _accuses _me of having been here, I will not rest until I've properly learned _Incendium _and used it on you."

"You don't scare me, Flynn," said Sora, shaking his head with a little smile. "But your little secret's safe with me. I hope you know this gives me license to mock you for the rest of eternity, though. I have a feeling I'll be seeing you around."

Axel felt his face heat up as he stormed away from the hospital wing. This was gonna be a _huge _problem. Houses don't intermingle, _especially _not Gryffindor and Slytherin. If anyone found out about this, he would be in deep shit with pretty much everybody.

Before he really knew he'd made a conscious decision, he burst through the main entrance, not knowing or caring if any teachers saw him. He strode behind the giant's hut, into the forbidden forest. It wasn't his first visit. He knew he could always come here if he wanted to be alone.

"_Come on, Fang, we're going for a walk._"

He froze. Apparently not.

"What are _you _doing in here?"

The question, aimed at him for the second time that night, came from yet another Gryffindor.

"I could ask you the same question, Potter," he spat. Personally, he didn't have a problem with the Boy Who Lived. But as a general oath to Slytherin, he was naturally expected to give him a hard time. He had his Weasley friend with him, and they had taken Hagrid's dog.

"It's none of your business," said Harry flatly. Ron nodded along with him, but he didn't seem too happy to be there.

Axel shrugged. "Don't bother me, then, and I won't bother you."

Long after Harry and Ron disappeared from sight, Axel lingered around the outskirts of the forest, seating himself on a rather thick tree root. He wouldn't have to worry about being caught by the giant; they took him away days ago, accusing him of being the attacker. Personally, Axel didn't think he had the brains to do the job, but that was just his opinion.

Hours later, he made to go back to the castle, taking no notice of the Ford Anglia that flew a few dozen meters above his head.

* * *

"Roxas? Roxas can you hear me? Can you blink for me?"

He opened his eyes all the way to see Madam Pomfrey standing over him, with a wooden bowl of a rather foul-looking potion. Judging by the putrid taste in his mouth, she'd just made him drink it. But that wasn't important. Why was he in the hospital wing to begin with? How long had he been there?

Suddenly everything came back to him. He'd gone for a walk, near the Black Lake, by himself. There was a splash in the water, and the last thing he could remember was a giant snake, at _least _as thick as a tree trunk, swimming about a foot under the water. It came closer and close to where he was standing; it made a beeline for him, as a matter of fact. And then the last thing he could remember was its glowing yellow eyes, slowly becoming visible underneath the foggy surface.

"Madam Pomfrey!" he shouted, sitting up much too fast for her liking, "It wasn't a person, it was a snake! A snake attacked me! At least, I think it did…"

"Lay _down_, my boy," she ordered harshly. "The heir of Slytherin has been caught and accounted for, and the _snake _has been put to death. You can relax, boy, and let me fix you up, so I can get you to the feast! See for yourself, all the rest of the students are rousing!"

Roxas looked round to see half a dozen other muggleborns, including Nearly Headless Nick, stretching, walking around, and some nibbling on little treats from their admirers. He looked to his own bedside table to discover at least two dozen chocolate frogs.

He gazed at the pile in awe. "Who…?"

"Most of them are from your little redheaded friend," said Madam Pomfrey shortly. "Drink this," she snapped, pushing a glass of icy pumpkin juice towards him.

He ignored her. Redheaded friend? He didn't have any redheaded friends…


	3. Year Three

**Hey, hey. This is extremely short. But to make up for it, Year Four is gonna be WAY longer than any of the first three. I've got the entire rest of the story planned out, it's down to me to write it. For those of you who read **_**Senioritis,**_ **I'm SO sorry it's taking so long to update.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter, AND Kingdom Hearts? Oh boy… I don't think I'd live long enough to enjoy myself**

YEAR THREE

Roxas crept through the secret passageway behind the statue of a one-eyed witch. Being the lazy teenager that he was, he'd forgotten to get his permission slip to go to Hogsmeade signed by his parents. Not that he was _that desperate _to get to Hogsmeade, but he had some Christmas shopping to do, and that aside, he wanted to see what the place was like.

Fortunately for him, around Halloween, during the first class trip to the village, he'd been hanging around the third floor corridor and happened to notice the Weasley twins disappear behind the aforementioned statue, and later, Roxas decided to check it out for himself. The castle was full of secret passages, but before then, he'd never found one that lead completely _out _of the castle before. Minutes after that, he was heading back, sucking on a sugar quill and silently thanking Fred and George Weasley for showing him this special treat.

Back in the present time, he was emerging from the passage and creeping up the stairs toward the main shop. It was packed full of students, as always, so nobody even _noticed _Roxas slip into the throng. After twenty minutes of standing in line, he had a Honeydukes bag in hand, full of gifts for all of his roommates.

He planned to head over to the Three Broomsticks next, having heard that the butterbeer is fantastic, but he didn't know his way around, nor did he have anyone with him that knew _their _way around. Somehow he found himself in an alleyway, far off the beaten path. A battered sign reading "The Hog's Head" was visible, but Roxas didn't want to chance going on there. He'd heard that some pretty dodgy folks liked to hang out in there.

Then, he saw it, and decided _very _quickly that he'd much rather deal with whatever warlocks, vampires, or banshees the Hog's Head had to offer. Hovering at the end of the alleyway, was one of those creatures, the creatures Professor Dumbledore had warned all of the students about. The creatures that, given the opportunity, would suck out your soul. Dementors.

He looked back behind him quickly, trying to mentally calculate whether he could make it out of the alley if the dementor decided to come after him. He'd seen just how fast they could go during last week's Quidditch match, and honestly, it didn't look like he had a chance. He had to try, though, and he had to do it fast. He could feel his insides tensing up and weakening already, as though someone were pouring a glass of ice cold water into his chest.

It didn't appear as though the creature had noticed his presence yet, so he turned on his heel and ran, as fast as he could. In a rush of icy air he felt that the monster knew he was there. Hopelessness leaked into his very pores. The dementor was going to catch him, and there was nothing he could do about it. They were going to take him; they were going to take his soul. He wasn't ever going to go back to Hogwarts.

Ironically, as he was thinking these horrible thoughts (probably brought on by the creature itself) he tripped and fell to the ground. He felt the creature swooping over him.

He didn't know why he didn't scream. Maybe it was because he couldn't find his voice. Maybe it was because in his last moments of life, he didn't want to behave so cowardly. He wouldn't show fear or defeat to this creature. He shut his eyes tightly and tried as best he could to cover up his face as the dementor began to lower its hood.

Suddenly, a warm blast came out of nowhere. Roxas was surrounded by a bright light, a light that carried hope, and strength. Despite the intensity of the light, he opened his eyes widely in search of the source. What he saw instead was a liquid-y looking silver dragon, whizzing through the narrow street and blasting the dementor away from Roxas.

A large hand clamped down on his upper arm and started yanking him up. "Get up, idiot, before it comes back!"

Roxas was sure he recognized the voice, but at the moment he was too shaken to try identifying it. The guy was wearing a black cloak, anyway, and the hood was drawn up over his face. If Roxas didn't feel the body heat eradiating from his hands, he might have mistaken him for a dementor.

He couldn't really walk right, so he let himself be supported by the stranger, until he was pushed onto a barstool in the Hog's Head.

"Are you stupid or something?" the hooded guy demanded, "Why would you go down there by yourself in the first place?"

Ah. Roxas recognized that voice.

Shit. Roxas recognized that voice.

He knew before his rescuer took his hood down, that his rescuer was Axel.

"I got _lost,_" he spat. "Why were _you_ over here? Huh?"

Axel rolled his eyes. "You're a handful, you know that? I was having a drink with Aberforth," he gestured towards the bartender, "Me n' him go way back. Hey Abs, could you get a butterbeer for the kid?"

"Psh, kid," Roxas grumbled, "We're the same age."

Axel didn't respond, he instead shoved a package wrapped in gold foil under Roxas nose. "Honeydukes chocolate," he said. "Eat it. I learned from Lupin that it helps."

"I have my own," Roxas snapped, reaching into his plastic baggy.

"Jeez, you'd think I'm trying to poison you or something," Axel mumbled, putting the candy bar back into his coat pocket.

"Well, gee, I wonder what would _ever _make me think that!" said Roxas disgruntledly.

He didn't touch the butterbeer Aberforth gave him. He knew that by this point he was being unnecessarily nasty to Axel, given the redhead had probably just saved his life. But that fact just made it all the worse. Now he was _indebted _to him.

"You've eaten plenty of my chocolate in the past," Axel murmured in an undertone, just barely loud enough for Roxas to hear.

"What did you say?"

He didn't just say what Roxas thought he just said, did he?

"N-nothing," Axel stuttered. "You know what? Forget it," he threw his hands up in the air. "Drink's on me, you're fucking welcome, have a nice day."

He tossed a galleon onto the counter, turned on his heel, and left the bar, leaving Roxas feeling a bit whiplashed. He started feeling a little bit guilty for treating Axel the way he did. Because today, for all intents and purposes, they weren't enemies. Sure, he might have called him stupid, idiot, whatever else, but the edge on his voice hadn't come from hatred. It had come from desperation, and from fear. He was starting to think that Axel didn't hate him at all.

He suspected that he didn't hate Axel so much anymore, either.

**Please review! I know there aren't many of you out there reading this, but if you are, I'd really love to hear from you.**


	4. Year Four

**Hey guys(: So, I know this isn't exactly a tradition story, but I thought I'd just let you know that the chapters aren't really supposed to be traditional either. It's organized into tiny flashed _intentionally. _Kay? Just wanted to clear that up for any of you curious types. If that ain't your thang, you came to the wrong place, brotha.**

YEAR FOUR

Axel had boarded the Hogwarts Express on the first day of their fourth year with two tear drop shaped tattoos underneath his eyes. Roxas had pretended not to notice.

It was hard to pretend not to notice when Axel had so kindly strode into _his_ compartment, much like the time they first met, and plopped down right across from him. Sora, who was also inhabiting the compartment, sniggered to himself and looked at his feet. Roxas could swear the brunette knew something about Axel that he didn't.

Hayner, whom Axel had sat down next to, scoffed importantly, and scooted a few inches away.

"What?" said Axel, looking round at them all. "Do I smell or something?"

Roxas shut his eyes and tried his very best not to curse Axel with a stinging jinx. "Oh, I don't know, Axel. Maybe you've just spent the _last _three years of our lives tormenting us? And that aside, isn't it against Slytherin code to talk to an 'outsider?' From what I understand, your superior asses are too _superior _to allow your superiority to sink down into the _lower class _houses."

"It was never put in writing," said Axel with ease. Why was he here? It made Roxas very uncomfortable, to say the least. Not only did he not like the redhead, but it was also impossible for him to relax, not knowing what kind of motives Axel had or when he intended to strike.

A sharp rapping sounded through the glass door to the compartment; it looked as though Axel's little Slytherin friends were flagging him down.

"_Hey, Axel, what are you doing in there?" _one of the particularly stupider ones called out.

Axel didn't take his eye off Roxas'.

"Hang on, Montague, I'll be out in a second," he replied.

"Don't keep them waiting on our account," said Hayner, making absolutely no attempt to disguise his distaste for Axel's presence.

Axel, looking unperturbed, stood up fluidly. "Let's settle the score," he proclaimed, spreading his arms, "For good. We'll settle our differences like men. Meet me out at the Quidditch field, Saturday night, ten o'clock. Don't be late."

"Why would you want to meet me on the Quidditch field," Roxas asked, highly suspicious. Usually they just dueled in the hallways. He supposed there were less things to hurt outside, but—

"So we can play Quidditch, of course," Axel replied.

* * *

"All right, Roxas? I actually thought you weren't gonna come."

"Well, it's not like you stuck around long enough for me to refuse," Roxas replied disgruntledly, trudging up with field with his Cleansweep Six. This was not the first, but the eighth time this year he'd come to play against Axel. If he didn't know any better, he'd say Axel was having fun with it. With November fast coming to a close, Roxas decided, with his teeth chattering, that he'd had enough of this foolishness.

He was backed by Sora and Seamus Finnigan, Hayner's younger brother, and a notably better Quidditch player. Axel was flanked by Montague, the captain of the Slytherin team, and by his friend Demyx, with the mullet. Roxas was a pretty decent player, but he couldn't be much of a match for Montague. No, it didn't matter, he had to do it.

"I've a proposition for you, Axel," he said boldly.

Demyx sniggered. That was okay; he probably wasn't smart enough to know what proposition meant.

Axel, looking rather amused himself, said, "All right, I'll humor you."

"Let's raise the stakes a little bit, here," said Roxas. "If Gryffindor wins, this is our last match. No rematches, no final calls. Just this."

He could hear murmurs all around from other people that had shown up to watch. With the Triwizard Tournament going on and no official Quidditch this year, Roxas and Axel's teams had become something of an underground sporting event. Students knew, go to the Quidditch pitch on the first and third Saturday of the month to catch a free show. He felt slightly guilty for just shutting down and calling it quits on them, but Roxas knew that Gryffindor's real team would probably step in soon to rectify that; in fact the blonde often wondered why they hadn't already.

Axel looked unaffected, in fact he and his two teammates burst into laughter as though Roxas had just said the funniest thing in the world. Something every Slytherin had in common, Roxas realized, was an array of inside jokes against Gryffindors that could be used for almost every occasion. It pissed him off that they never took him seriously.

"You're such a _good _boy," said Axel, "Never breaking the rules, always want to please everyone else. You never live life on the _edge. _You're always so afraid to cause a _rumble_. Shake people up. Start a _fire._ Let's say I call it a deal. You win, then we don't play anymore. What about when _I _win?"

Roxas didn't like the sound of this. This could not end well.

"Suppose you did?" he offered weakly. He knew he'd have to let Axel place his own stakes, and there was no telling what he'd do with that kind of power.

A wolfish grin spread across the redhead's features. "If Slytherin wins, Blondie, then you have to go to the Yule Ball with me."

"_What!"_

Slytherins all around were laughing at him, and the Gryffindors were exchanging looks. Go to the Yule Ball? With… Axel?

"It's your call, man," said Seamus, "We're not the ones that'll have to go out with firecrotch if we lose."

"You guys wanted out, too," Roxas reasoned.

Sora and Seamus exchanged looks. "Yeah, but, it's not like we're bound by any kind of code to even play _this _match. We could throw it, then just not show up for another one," said Sora. They both looked over to where Axel and his team were sharing a hearty laugh about something or another; most likely humor at Roxas' expense.

"No way," said Roxas, "Nowhere in the bargain does it say that if we lose, we still have to play the next match. I can handle one date; I'd rather risk a stupid date than walk out of here undignified. I don't know if you noticed," he gestured over to the stands, where the Weasley twins were no doubt collecting bets, "But it would be pretty shitty of us to not play this round. I'd rather walk out of here, either having won or lost, than walk out of here having been too afraid to play at all."

Sora smiled at him and nodded firmly. He and Seamus both held their hands out, one on top of the other. Roxas placed his hand atop the pile.

"On three then… one, two, three, GO GO GRYFFINDOR!"

* * *

"My, don't you look lovely this evening."

Rumor had been swirling about the castle during the weeks leading up to Christmas Eve that Axel Flynn would be taking Roxas Strife to the Yule Ball, but very few people knew for certain if that were true or not. Some of the stories had gotten so ludicrous that any true knowledge behind them was negligible. Roxas heard one third-year saying that he was expected to show up in women's dress robes, while he heard another saying that Axel had to threaten him with a Hungarian Horntail in order for him to agree.

He felt dozens of pairs of eyes on him as he allowed himself to be escorted into the Entrance Hall by none other than Axel himself, who, as much as Roxas hated to admit it, looked rather dashing in his emerald green dress robes. It looked as though he had tamed his hair for the occasion, and had swept it all back into a neat little ponytail. Roxas, on the other hand, had not done much in his attempts to flatten his perpetually messy do. It didn't feel like a special occasion to him. In fact he'd been rather dreading it.

"Oh _come on,_ Roxy, you can't ignore me for the _whole _evening," said Axel, sounding only slightly disappointed underneath his thick layer of sarcasm.

"Don't call me Roxy," Roxas snapped.

"He speaks!" the redhead called delightedly, throwing his free arm up in the air. Roxas did not crack a smile. There was nothing even _remotely _funny or happy about this situation. He was linking arms with his arch enemy instead of the ridiculously attractive Beauxbatons girl who had asked him (in rather spotty English, admittedly) to go with him last week. But no, he was bound by code of honor to spend all night with this… _buffoon. _How humiliating. He was starting to regret not just walking away from the playing field.

Despite the humility of the situation, Roxas walked with his head held high. Yeah, he totally threw that Quidditch match on purpose.

They sat at their table quietly as the four Champions entered the Great Hall with their dates; Fleur Delacour with Roger Davies, who looked rather plain with her standing in comparison, Viktor Krum with Hermione Granger, Cedric Diggory with Cho Chang, who looked perfectly at home in the spotlight, and lastly, Harry Potter with Parvati Patil. Roxas smirked to himself, with the knowledge that somewhere in the Hall, Ron Weasley was sitting with Padma Patil.

One by one, couples began to approach the dance floor, some spiraling with exuberant skill, others swaying back and forth awkwardly. Regardless, everyone, Hogwarts and otherwise, seemed to be having a good time, and the Great Hall was magnificent.

Axel cleared his throat. "Might I have one dance?" he asked politely.

Roxas supposed there was no getting out of it; the ball ran until midnight. Better to get it out of the way now, while the floor was crowded with flocks of witches and wizards, all eager to begin dancing early. In his simple black dress robes, Roxas didn't think he would be all that conspicuous, so he nodded stiffly. Axel had promised when the match was over that he'd be on his best behavior and so far, he'd kept that promise.

_Nobody is looking at you, _Roxas told himself as Axel began to spin him around, _See? Plenty of girls are dancing together, there's absolutely nothing weird about this. The entire Triwizard Tournament thingy is about intermingling, right? Yeah, you're fine._

He knew it was no use, since the only people _not _watching them were those from other schools. So, reluctantly, he started focusing more on the dancing aspect. The Weird Sisters were playing some kind of waltz, a peculiar tune for a grunge band. Honestly Roxas had no clue what he was doing. Fortunately, Axel was an excellent dancer (damn him), and with him leading, it wasn't all that difficult for Roxas to keep up.

When the slower songs came to a close, Roxas figured he'd better get off the dance floor as quickly as possible before the mosh pits started to form.

As soon as he tried steering them away, however, Axel pleaded, "Oh wait, Rox, I love this song!"

"I'm just going to sit over there!" Roxas shouted back (the music was very loud). He pointed over to an empty table near the Christmas tree, "Just come find me when you're done."

Axel gave him a pouty kind of look, but quickly returned to shamelessly dancing solo. Once Roxas was alone, he took advantage of this new opportunity to collect himself.

"Okay, don't panic," he muttered aloud. Who would hear him over the music anyway? "It was just _dancing _for goodness' sake. So you're here with a Slytherin. So you're here with _Axel. _It's not the end of the world. So, maybe you may or may not have just been having fun. With Axel… who _I just don't fucking get!" _

He pounded the table with his fist, so utterly confused. He peeked into the throng to see Axel looking like he was having the time of his life, just sporadically throwing his hips around in an even crazier fashion than that Luna girl from Ravenclaw. Roxas had to remind himself that the redhead was only doing this to humiliate him, to keep himself from considering the possibility that maybe they could be friends.

* * *

"Hey Roxas, this seat taken?"

Axel quickly sat down anyway before the blonde could insist otherwise. In all honesty, he had no idea what he was doing, or why he was doing it. But it was too late to change his mind now; seating around the Black Lake was filling up quick, in preparation for the second task. Axel ignored the curious looks he was getting from Draco Malfoy and pretended not to hear his other friends flagging him down.

"I suppose it is now," Roxas grumbled. Youch. While he'd never exactly hidden his dislike for Axel, Axel never truly wanted to believe that that dislike was personal. Was mere playful banter on his part actually genuine hatred on Roxas'? That was never his intention.

"Why d'you even reckon they're having us watch this?" he asked conversationally, "We won't be able to see a damn thing."

Roxas looked at him spitefully before replying, "I don't know, but I'm not gonna complain about it, since it got us out of class—hey, where's Potter at?"

Axel looked down to see that three Champions from three schools were indeed lined up at the bank near the judges' table, but Harry Potter was indeed missing. A curious kid, Potter was. While Axel hadn't worn the _Potter Stinks _badge like the rest of the kids in his year, he did find Potter a bit overrated. Trouble seemed to find him wherever he went, yes, but it always seemed like he was just barely scraping through it all. Which he never claimed wasn't the case, so for that Axel respected him.

But today, the fourth Champion was nowhere to be found until minutes before nine-thirty, when the task was set to start. He came sprinted down the lawn just as soon as Ludo Bagman modified his voice for the occasion.

"Well, all our champions are ready for the second task, which will start on my whistle. The have precisely an hour to recover what has been taken from them. On the count of three, then. One… two… _three!_"

The whistle echoed shrilly in the cold, still air; the stands erupted with cheers and applause, so much was the enthusiasm that Axel could hardly tell what was going on. Krum looked like he was turning into some kind of shark, while Cedric and Fleur had already disappeared into the murky waters. Meanwhile Harry… was just standing there. Laughter was beginning to erupt throughout the audience when Harry suddenly dropped himself into the lake, and it became clear to Axel exactly how everyone intended to watch.

Someone's wand—most likely Bagman's—was projecting an four images, collectively, out on the lake for everyone to see, each featuring one of the four champions. Fleur and Cedric both appeared to have glass fishbowls over their heads, presumably supplying air, while Potter looked rather odd, and fishy, almost as though he'd become a merman himself.

Suddenly, on Krum's end of the projection, the Giant Squid emerged, startling Axel greatly, along with the rest of the crowd's. It wasn't as though Axel had never seen it before; the windows in the Slytherin quarters looked out into the depths of the lake, so the squid's appearance really wasn't that uncommon for him. But seeing it that up close and personal… let's just say it surprised him. He wasn't _scared, _just surprised. Enough to reflexively clutch Roxas by the wrist. Actually, the area he had grabbed was dangerously close to his hand. So dangerously close that the common eye would probably mistake them for holding hands. Ah, who was he kidding? Axel missed his wrist completely.

As soon as he became aware of this screw up, he let go and mumbled a swift apology. The squid was gone, and Moaning Myrtle was hanging out on Potter's end of the spectrum. Apparently she was giving him directions; was that even legal? Meanwhile, Fleur Delacour was fast approaching the surface, a pile of Grindylows on her flanks. Silly girl, didn't she know that a simple repelling charm could get rid of them? He guessed the didn't cover loch-lurkers in the region of Beauxbatons. Good. That gave Hogwarts a definite advantage.

He couldn't stop thinking about Roxas' hands. They were soft to the touch, and if he didn't know any better, he'd say that they clutched back at his. Perhaps he was simply shocked too? Axel had to know. Because for quite a while now, he was embarrassed to say he had the biggest crush on Roxas. Roxas! A stupid, hard-headed mudblood! A shallow Gryffindor! A—an extremely attractive, talented wizard.

Damn it, he was way past crushing.

Tentatively, he reached out again, only to _touch, _not to take. He passed it off as a mere change in sitting position. To his dismay, Roxas moved said hand down to scratch his ankle. When his arm came back up, he crossed it over the other one. Sure, it looked casual enough, but the message was clear. _Keep your hands off me, weirdo._

* * *

"Did you know him?"

Roxas whipped around to see Axel standing right behind him. He'd thought he'd been so sneaky, creeping away from the crowd. They were all too busy staring at the body—Cedric's body, which arrived out in the open for everyone to see, attached to Harry Potter. He hadn't known Cedric, but he'd never seen a dead body before. He didn't think anybody would notice if he left the area; many others were fleeing the scene. While they'd gone back to the castle, he chose instead to approach a young willow tree (one that _didn't _attack anything that moved) and cry alone.

Or so he thought.

"I—I didn't know him _well_," he said, trying not to sniffle so conspicuously, "But it's overwhelming, you know? He took Ancient Runes with me this year— guess divination wasn't his thing—but it's just unbelievable to think that he's _never _going to sit in that chair again. He's not coming back next year. A-and, I don't know, we weren't _friends, _but he used to let me borrow his n-notes—"

He knew it wasn't silly to cry in a situation like this, but given he'd been hardwired to consider Axel an enemy by now, he _really _didn't want the redhead seeing tears flowing so freely.

"W-why are you here?" he questioned shakily. It was too late to stop Axel from seeing the few tears he couldn't keep bottled up, but he knew that a full scale meltdown probably wasn't too far behind. He _definitely _didn't want anyone to see that.

Axel stepped forward, with a sort of pained expression on his face. "I'm here because I care about a friend."

Roxas was so shocked he couldn't even react when Axel took yet another step forward and embraced him. Having someone's arms around him, even if they were Axel's, made him feel protected and free of judgment. This time when the tears came, they were of his own accord. His body shook with sobs and he pressed his face against Axel's chest.

"Guess I missed the memo," said Roxas sheepishly, after he had calmed down a little. _This is weird_, he told himself, _remember? What the heck is gonna happen now?_

"I know you don't really like me all the much, Rox, but—"

"It's okay," Roxas cut him off. "I'm sorry I'm so mean to you. I guess I've just had this stupid idea in my head this whole time that you deserve it. But now that I think about it, maybe I was the one being an asshole this whole time. We can be friends, Axel."

He didn't mean to put emphasis on the word 'friend,' but by the indignant look on Axel's face, he knew that the word bore significance to him. Great.

When he boarded the Hogwarts Express at eleven years old, he never imagined in a million years that he would have to friend zone Axel Flynn.


	5. Year Five

**Hey guys. It's been awhile, hasn't it? I haven't updated anything in like, weeks. I was gonna write a Zemyx for today, but I just couldn't find the inspiration. Ah well.**

**Disclaimer: I'd give my left nut for rights to Harry Potter OR Kingdom Hearts.**

YEAR FIVE

Surprised looks followed Roxas wherever he went. That is, as long as Axel was with him. He was sure that, in a million years, nobody at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry expected Roxas Strife and Axel Flynn to become friends. Except maybe Sora, whose reaction didn't extend past a small chuckle when Roxas disgruntledly told him that he'd have to be hanging out with the redhead over the holidays. But otherwise, all the way up through the winter holidays, he received strange (and sometimes threatening) looks from Gryffindors and Slytherins alike.

Axel never seemed to mind, but socially, their relationship was anything but easy. During the summer holidays, when they weren't separated into houses, it was a cinch to just hang out and be who they liked. But In school, everything was wacked. Roxas hadn't even realized the _extent _of the sheer rivalry between their houses until that year. Slytherins were absolutely _forbidden _to allow anyone other than their own into the common room. Which was true of all the others, but no one _really _followed it. Dining tables were all separated, as were sides of any given classroom.

Another thing which kept them apart that particularly made Axel angry was the D.A: Dumbledore's Army. Slytherins were expressly forbidden, in fear of double agents from Umbridge's Inquisitorial Squad. Regardless of how many times the redhead had begged and reasoned with Roxas to disclose information about them, insisting his cause was the same as the rest of theirs, Roxas kept tight-lipped about it, agreeing only the privately share with Axel what he'd learned during the meetings, but nothing more.

It wasn't that Roxas didn't _want_ Axel to join, and he wished his friend knew that. It was just the ridiculous amount of trouble _he'd _had to go through to join just for being _friends _with a Slytherin. It was Granger that cut off Ron Weasley's little rant and agreed with a sinister little smile that Roxas could join, but if he got any ideas, they would know. Roxas didn't put it past Granger to find a way; her spells were spectacular.

Aside from hanging out with Axel, D.A. meetings were pretty much the highlight of Roxas' life. School was boring, now that Umbridge had messed with the entire system; even Axel had confided that he didn't understand what the rest of his friends saw in her reign of terror.

When the Christmas holiday came to a close and Axel and Roxas returned to school (having gone to Axel's over break) Harry began teaching them how to conjure Patronus charms.

"This is really advanced stuff you guys, beyond the O.W.L.s, this is fantastic!" Harry had encouraged during their first Patronus lesson; apparently more would come. "Before the incantation you have to think of a really, _really _good memory, your favorite in the world. Full bodied patronuses are the most powerful, but if you're just getting little wisps of smoke, that's good too."

Roxas shut his eyes tightly for what seemed to be the millionth time that lesson, thinking about Christmas at home back with the folks, back when he didn't know he was a wizard. He thought of his Gran's big open fireplace, where they'd make Christmas s'mores or eat cookies. He thought about the way his Auntie Clara's house smelled; it was the only time of year they visited her at home.

So far these memories were only bringing about puffs of white vapor from Roxas' wand, but when Harry approached, he smiled approvingly and moved on to help Neville Longbottom, whose spellwork had improved drastically since the start of the meetings.

Roxas shut his eyes and tried again, determined to see which animal his patronus took the shape of. He tried his childhood Christmases again, except this time the old memories, as they often do, became intermingled with new ones. It wasn't until Axel came into the picture that a shining silver fox issued from his wand and trotted gracefully around the room. It drew everyone's eyes; Roxas was only the second—succeeding Harry and Ginny Weasley—to produce an animal.

Everyone stood silently for a moment until it vanished, and then he was given a small applause and cheers of encouragement from everybody. He smiled and thanked them all, but inside, he was freaking out a bit. The tremendous difference Axel had made to the strength of the spell did not go unnoticed, and Roxas couldn't help but think _why?_ Was Axel really his happiest memory? That sounded so… queer.

_Calm down,_ Roxas told himself with a small shake of the head. He was probably only thinking that way because rumors were already flying around Hogwarts that he and Axel were fags, and now it was getting inside his head. _I know that we're just friends, and that's all that matters. _

He remembered Axel's patronus in the third year; a dragon. It was a long, serpentine Eastern dragon with no wings, moving fluently through the air to spit warm fire at the dementor, charging it away. Roxas had always considered Axel's magical talents negligible, even after they became friends. How did he learn such advanced magic in the third year? Roxas found himself growing more and more curious about what _his _special memory was.

He remained distracted and unable to produce even smoke for over ten minutes afterwards, so he left the room of requirement just in time to see a tiny little house-elf with large green eyes walk in.

~o~

"So whatcha got for me today?"

Standing in the one tiny room on the first floor of the shrieking shack were Axel and Roxas, where they congregated after almost every D.A. meeting for Roxas to do his best to teach Axel everything Harry had taught him.

"We started Patronus Charms," said Roxas, who'd found himself distracted for pretty much the rest of the day.

Axel cracked a smirk and said, "No need."

He aggressively snapped, "_Expecto Patronum!_" and jabbed his wand into thin air, and out of if burst the same dragon Roxas had seen two years ago, in all of its fluidy silvery glory. It slithered through the air and breathed fire at nothing for about twenty seconds, before vanishing into the air from whence it came. Axel was looking rather pleased with himself.

"Who taught you?" Roxas wondered aloud.

Axel sat down and shrugged. "When the dementors came onto the train in our third year, they really freaked me out. I mean they _really _freaked me out. I started having nightmares about them. So I took _Standard Book of Spells, Grade Six _out of the library and looked up the theory. I practiced in the dormitories for like a month straight before I got it right."

"What memory worked for you?" Roxas blurted before he could stop himself.

Axel, oddly, went slightly maroon. "I tried tons," he said, awkwardly rocking back and forth on his toes, "I thought about my mum, about my friends back at home, about playing Quidditch. None of them worked. Then I thought about setting fire to stuff—you know how much I like doing that."

Roxas nodded, and Axel kept going.

"So that had me making those little clouds, the ones that look like _Protego," _he explained, "And then I got kinda bored, doing that over and over again, and thinking about fire got me thinking about that time that we were raising fire newts in _Care of Magical Creatures _class, and one of them spit at you, and singed your eyebrows off." Axel laughed just recalling the memory, "And that's when the dragon came out. I thought about the time when we accidentally turned the statues of Barnabus the Smarmy into an ice sculpture while dueling, and that worked too."

Axel was looking anywhere but at Roxas now. "Turns out, Rox, that you're my happy memory."

Roxas felt rooted to the spot. He didn't know whether he should be flattered or freaked out. Well, he was certainly freaked out because Axel's story was basically _identical _to his. But how could that be? They didn't really hit it off until fourth year, he thought. There was a _reason _that statue turned into ice, because they were _enemies. _Getting detention was a weekly occurrence for them at _best. _So how could Roxas have been Axel's favorite memory?

"I uhh… I gotta go. P-potions essay for Snape I still gotta do—"

Axel cut in, "I finished mine already, I could help you if you want."

"N-no thanks," said Roxas quickly, "It's not a big deal, I just gotta get it done."

He turned and ran back through the passage as quickly as he could. In truth, he'd finished his essay on the Draught of Living Death three days ago, he just needed any excuse he could to get away from Axel. He ran blindly through the passage, tripping over the steps, scraping his palms and his knees. _Don't care. Need to run._

Roxas ran out into the open without bothering to press the knot that froze the whomping willow. A thick branch walloped him in the stomach, sending him flying a good fifteen feet. The blow hurt, as did the landing, but he got up and left anyway. He was being ridiculous and he knew it. But there was shit he had to figure out, _by himself. _He needed a place to think, by himself, without distractions, to see whether this _meant _anything or not.

He caught sight Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood being forced into a corner by a pair of brawny Slytherins with Inquisitorial Squad badges. On any other occasion Roxas would have stopped immediately to come to their aid, especially now since they were fellow D.A. members. But not today. Their mere presence told him that the room of requirement was empty, so he turned the corner and out of sight before any of the four could catch sight of him.

_I need a quiet place, I need a quiet place, I need a quiet place,_ he thought quickly, pacing back and forth in front of the room of requirement. The door seemed to take forever to materialize. Roxas wrenched it open as soon as it had a handle and made his way towards a small writing desk, with a little window looking out to the mountains. On the desk he found a self-inking quill and some parchment. He sat down and took the quill, writing _Reasons __I could be gay for Axel._ He furiously scribbled out what he wrote and instead put:_ Reasons Axel might like me _on the top left hand corner and _Reasons I'm just being a moron _on the top right. The lists proceeded as follows.

_Reasons __Axel might like me:_

1. Patronus thing

2. Yule ball

3. Second task

4. Jealous/Olette thing.

Ah, yes, the Olette thing. Olette was a pretty Ravenclaw in their year. She was nice, but exceeding quiet. Needless to say, she and Roxas did not date for very long. But they did date, and Axel _hated her, _for seemingly no reason. When Roxas asked him, he'd say she nagged too much about school work, or she was a smart-ass, or just that she didn't trust him.

In truth, Olette was rather fond of him, but this rivalry didn't last very long; her parents came to take her from school as soon as _The Quibbler _featured Harry Potter's interview on He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. But Roxas had had a _slight _feeling at the time that Axel was a tad jealous of her. Not wanting to seem narcissistic, he shrugged it off, but it was something to go on the list anyway.

_Reasons I'm just being a moron:_

1. Dudes. Duh.

2. Frienemies.

3. Gryffindor/Slytherin. NO.

He sighed as he put the quill down. None of them were good reasons and he knew it. He'd thought Axel was a closet case ever since year one, really. Come on, he spiked his hair, his _long _hair; both of his ears were stretched, and he'd never even expressed a _liking _for any female. The frienemies thing barely even applied to them anymore; in fact they were as inseparable as the school allowed.

But still…

"Thought I'd find you here. Is this where they have the D.A. meetings as well?"

All of Roxas except his arm, which was occupied with flipping the parchment face down, froze to the spot. Had Axel followed him here? Or just guessed his location? Stupid, stupid Axel, why couldn't he just leave Roxas alone for five fucking minutes?

"No," Roxas lied stiffly.

Axel reached one long arm over his shoulder and swiped the paper from underneath his fingers.

"This doesn't look like Potions homework," he remarked, holding it high above his head, well out of Roxas' reach. Cursing his shortness, Roxas leapt for it anyway.

"Please don't," he growled through gritted teeth.

Axel smirked at him. "You know, I think I will."

Roxas did the first thing that came to mind, being in this room and all. He whipped his wand from his back pocket and shouted, "_Expelliarmus!" _sending a red jet stream at Axel, effectively knocking the list out of his hands. Then he snapped, "_Incendio!" _reducing the list to ash.

The redhead held his hands up in surrender. "I still saw it, you know," he said silkily, pretending to check out his nails.

"I hate you," said Roxas, feeling a little more than slightly sincere about it. But there was such a fine, blurred line between hate and—well, that other thing, that he just wasn't sure what side he was on.

"No you don't," Axel replied.

Roxas stuffed his wand back into his pocket and shoved Axel in the chest. "Yes, I do! You're _so _annoying! You're just this great big, spikey, annoying fucking _thing! Don't laugh at me!"_

"You're used to it," Axel countered, still laughing a little. "I'm not that big, _you're _just tiny. And, not counting the Yule Ball, have you ever seen me _not _spikey? It's just weird, man. So you're gonna tell me that after fighting for hell knows how many years and hanging out nonstop for all of _this _year, you're gonna try and tell me that you've _just now _realized that I'm annoying? And you decided to hate me for it? Sorry kiddo, but I'm calling you're bluff. You don't hate me."

Roxas' head was spinning. Axel saw the paper and wasn't acting all freaked out. That could only mean one thing…

Axel took a step closer, and he took a step back. He collided with the desk, knowing that Axel had effectively cornered him. So, instead of shrinking down, he stood on his tiptoes, trying to make himself look at least a tiny bit more intimidating.

"I _do _hate you," he spat. They were almost nose to nose now, but Axel wasn't backing down. His scent was intoxicating, in fact it made Roxas feel slightly faint. _No, _he told himself, _nowhatareyoudoing? Boys__**arenot**__supposedtolikeotherboys! Hello! This is __**Axel**__ we're talking about!_

But apparently none of that mattered. It didn't matter that homosexuality was frowned upon both in Roxas' head and in society. It didn't matter that Axel was about a foot taller than him and a Slytherin and his best friend slash worst enemy.

Axel half-chuckled. "No, you don't," he said assuredly.

He tilted his head slightly to the side. A question. Roxas shut his eyes and nodded once. An answer. Axel didn't need any more of a confirmation than that. He took Roxas' face in his hands and kissed him; slowly, gently, deeply. Roxas kissed him back.

And that was how Axel Flynn started dating Roxas Strife.


End file.
